And a Bright Autumn Moon
by The Black Sun's Daughter
Summary: They're going to leave him. He knows they will. Because soulmates or not, nobody wants to be with an animal, with a monster. And that thought is what finally sends him running out of the Annex as fast as he can without another thought. (OT3, Werewolf AU)


_What dark eyes you have!_  
 _The kind of eyes that mystify._  
 _But I'm gonna show you how much I care,  
'Cause my love with you I'm gonna share._

 _So don't you say you can't pretend,_  
 _'Cause I'd still love you to the end.  
You don't have to be a big bad wolf anymore._

(Hey There, Big Bad Wolf—The Shamettes)

* * *

They had followed him out of the Annex. Of course they had.

He should've known better than to suddenly jump up and run out of the Annex without a word of explanation to his soulmates, but he couldn't think beyond what Jenkins had told him, the words chasing themselves around and around inside his head. He kept sprinting until the stitch in his side made him stop, gasping for breath in an empty stretch of grass not far from the river's edge. At night, the water looked like ink, dark and foreboding, the silver-white gleams of moonlight over its surface doing nothing to lessen it.

"Jones!" Jake called first, walking in front of Cassandra. "Jones, the hell are you doing out here? Come back inside, man, it's freezing out." Even though a part of him wanted to run very far away, very fast, he knew they'd still follow him, the stubborn buggers. So he forced himself to stay where he was as Cassandra and Jake followed his trail through the dewy grass to where he was standing.

"Go away," he replied, maybe a little sharper than he needed to.

"The hell we will. C'mon, Jones, what's happened?" Jake's accent had thickened, which was never a good sign.

Cassandra's voice piped up next, soft and placating. "Zeke, please talk to us. Whatever's wrong, I'm sure we can—"

"I'm still a werewolf!" he shouted, spinning on heel to face them. He hadn't really meant to shout, or to just blurt it out like that, and he regretted it the moment he did. Now they would leave him. They'd leave him, just like everybody else did. Soulmates or not, nobody wanted to be with an _animal._

Jake and Cassandra were both staring at him with matching looks of shock on their faces, so he went on in a somewhat calmer voice. "The wolfsbane tea, it didn't quite...Jenkins said I'm always going to be a little bit werewolf. Maybe not full-tilt _Wolfman_ or anything, but I'm still part werewolf. I might still change and everything." He could feel the wolf in the back of his head, lurking around just behind his human thoughts. It wasn't solid or corporeal _yet_ —the cure had worked enough that he might not shift, no telling until the next full moon—but it was still there, distinctly inhuman and waiting.

A few moments of silence, and he wished they would just get it over with, just hurry up and _say it_ so he could go find someplace very far away to be miserable and mourn the loss of the best thing he'd ever had before having to come back and pretend. Finally, Cassandra asked, "Is that it?"

He was startled enough to bring his gaze back up to her, blinking rapidly. "What do you mean, _'is that it'?_ I just bloody told you I'm part _werewolf!"_

Jake made a face like he thought that _Ezekiel_ was the one being unreasonable. "Yeah, okay, we get that part. What's the big deal?" he asked, and when Ezekiel could only splutter at him, he made a 'what-did-you-expect' gesture with his hands. "Well, I mean, you just said you ain't goin' full _Teen Wolf_ on us. The cure obviously worked _somewhat_ because that's a mighty fine moon I see, and you're still on two legs."

"I'm a monster!"

The cowboy actually rolled his eyes, and Cassandra gave a very unladylike snort. "Oh, please. You fold your socks, Zeke. Forgive me if I'm not trembling at the sight of you," she retorted.

"How can you guys be okay with this?! _I'm_ not okay with this!" Ezekiel shouted, entirely thrown by their blasé attitude, even as a tiny spark of hope sputtered to life in his chest.

They exchanged a little look, their private little Ezekiel's-being-an-idiot-again-but-we-still-love-him look. He was very fond of that look under most circumstances, and this was probably not one of them. "We're your soulmates, Jones," Jake said at last, addressing him by his last name like it was a term of endearment. "That means we're with you, to infinity and beyond, remember? Pretty sure this is the 'beyond' part. And you _do_ fold your socks. Don't exactly scream 'cold-blooded killer' to me."

"You're soulmates with a _person,_ not with a—"

"With a what?" Cassandra cut him off challengingly. "You're still Ezekiel."

"I'm not too sure about that."

Jake snorted derisively. "Okay, now you really are being a drama queen. What part of 'you fold your socks' isn't getting through?"

Ezekiel's gaze moved from the cowboy to the redhead slowly, searching for any sign of deceit and finding none. They really meant it. How in the hell they could be alright with this was entirely beyond him, but he wasn't sure he wanted to think too hard on it at the moment, like a soap bubble that'd burst if he looked at it directly too long. And besides the fact that he was _freezing,_ and everything in him wanted to be held and warm and loved. His beast whimpered, too, wanting _home_ and _pack_ and _mates._

He took a few uncertain steps towards them, then let out a startled _oof_ as Jake suddenly lunged forward and caught him in one of those fierce, smothering hugs that he'd never admit he liked. Ezekiel didn't even pretend to be bothered this time, burying his face in one of those stupid hipster scarves the cowboy was fond of wearing, letting himself be held. Cassandra moved around to hug them both, one arm around Jake, the other around Ezekiel, and he leant into her softness too. She slid one hand down his arm to his wrist, and he felt her rub her thumb back and forth across his Words, the skin always more sensitive than usual.

"You're our person, silly-ass," Jake murmured into his hair. "I thought you got that by now. You're _our_ person. Tail and all."

"I _do not_ have a—" Ezekiel started to protest indignantly, but the moment he lifted his chin, Jake kissed him to quiet him. Cheater. He leant up into the kiss despite wanting to be irritated (he did _not_ have a tail) and parted his lips a little to inhale Jake's scent, which he was more aware of now than ever before. In the back of his mind, he was aware of his beast, the wolf on his back in a patch of wildflowers, wriggling happily with all four paws waving in the air, tongue lolling out. _You are thoroughly disgusting,_ he thought towards it, but only got a vague sense of amusement in return.

When Jake drew away, there was a smug little grin on his face. "Now, can we go home, punk? It's cold out, and _MasterChef_ is gonna be on soon."

Cassandra giggled merrily, squeezing his wrist, and Ezekiel rolled his eyes. "Fine, cowboy, fine."

"Good." Jake started to lower his arms, but then pointed a stern finger at him. "There will be no chasing Shadow. There will be no shedding on the sofa. I do not let dogs sleep on my bed. And if you come home with fleas, I will make a doghouse for you to sleep in, see if I don't."

For a moment, Ezekiel gaped at him in disbelief, and then he was laughing, helpless to stop, laughing until his ribs hurt a little and there were tears in the corners of his eyes. Jake laughed too, the sound warm and rusty from misuse, mingling with Cassandra's bright gurgling. When he finally managed to gasp in a decent breath, he laid his head against Jake's chest for a moment. "Yes, sir," he replied.

"Good boy," Cassandra said in a teasing voice, reaching up to scratch behind his ear playfully. Except that it actually felt pretty damn good, and he tilted his head into her hand without thinking about it. The redhead grinned wickedly, and when he risked a glance up, Jake had one of those small, sly grins toying in the corners of his mouth.

Ezekiel hung his head with a little sigh. "I'm never gonna reach the end of this, am I?" he asked, semi-rhetoric, and Cassandra laughed again.

Jake shrugged. "We'll stop when it stops being funny," he replied, then leant in a little and stage-whispered against Ezekiel's ear, "I've still got that rubber ball, y'know."

Before he could think of a response to that, Cassandra snapped her fingers together sharply for their attention, standing with her fists propped on her hips, scowling at them in a mockingly serious way. "Are we going inside, or do I need to get a leash?" she demanded, a glimmer in her eyes suggesting that she wasn't entirely joking.

Turning back to him, Jake grinned widely. "I take it back, I like her idea better."

* * *

Ezekiel did transform at the next full moon. But Jenkins said that because he was treated with the cure so soon after being infected, he was more like a skinchanger than a legit werewolf, so no killing livestock or maidens in red cloaks for him. It wasn't nearly as bad as he thought, either. The initial change wasn't exactly pleasant, but he was still himself afterwards, still able to think and remember.

Jake and Cassandra still weren't bothered, even when they watched him change. They'd sit in the Annex until he climbed back into his own head enough to recognise them, and then Jake would connect the Back Door to some hunting cabin in the middle of a forest so Ezekiel could go for a run through the trees whilst Jake and Cassandra had a moonlit picnic. Sometimes he'd catch rabbits, and Jake would make a surprisingly good stew out of them for dinner the next day.

Sometimes he wasn't entirely okay with his new situation. Whenever that happened, though, his soulmates were there, reminding him that they loved him no matter what and always would. Because they were his people, and he was their person. Even when he wasn't a person at all.


End file.
